You have, most of you, I presume, read with thrilling joy in one of the
recent issues of the Star of the West that illuminating account given by
our beloved sister, Miss Martha Root, wherein she tells with her
characteristic directness and modesty the story of her moving interview
with Her Majesty Queen Marie of Roumania and of the cordial and ready
response which her gentle yet persuasive presentation of the principles of
the Baha'i Faith has evoked in the heart of that honored queen. One of the
visible and potent effects which this historic interview proved capable of
achieving was the remarkable appeal in the form of an open letter which
Her Majesty freely and spontaneously caused to be published to the world
at large testifying in a language of exquisite beauty to the power and
sublimity of the Message of Baha'u'llah.
It was indeed a never-to-be-forgotten occasion when, on the eve of the day
commemorating the passing of Baha'u'llah, a handful of us, His sorrowing
servants, had gathered round His beloved Shrine supplicating relief and
deliverance for the down-trodden in Persia, to receive in the midst of the
silence of that distressing hour the glad-tidings of this notable triumph
which the unbending energy and indomitable spirit of our beloved Martha
has achieved for our sacred Cause.
With bowed heads and grateful hearts we recognize in this glowing tribute
which royalty has thus paid to the Cause of Baha'u'llah an epoch-making
pronouncement destined to herald those stirring events which, as
'Abdu'l-Baha has prophesied, shall in the fulness of time signalize the
triumph of God's holy Faith. For who can doubt but that the deeds of those
valiant pioneers of the Faith, unexampled though they have been in the
abundance of their number and unexcelled in their sublime heroism, are but
a faint glimmer of what, according to the divine promise, its steadfast
followers are destined to perform? Those heroic exploits that have
immortalized the names of its primitive adherents will continue to adorn
and illuminate the pages of its blood-stained history; yet we cannot
forget that the period of its full fruition with all its promise of world
felicity and undreamt-of achievements is yet to be realized, its golden
age yet to unfold. Indeed, how chastening to our pride, how challenging to
our enthusiasm, if we but pause for a moment amidst the world's many
distractions and ponder in our hearts the vastness, the compelling
urgency, the ineffable glory of what still remains unachieved.